


Evermore

by StoriesForAll



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stranger Things (TV 2016), Taylor Swift (Musician), evermore - Taylor Swift (Album)
Genre: F/M, Hawkins (Stranger Things), Inspired by Stranger Things (TV 2016), Multi, Stranger Things 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28805337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesForAll/pseuds/StoriesForAll
Summary: A collection of stories inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album Evermore.
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
Kudos: 3





	1. Cowboy Like Me (Steve & Nancy)

_And the tennis court was covered up_

_With some tent-like thing_

_And you asked me to dance_

_But I said, "Dancing is a dangerous game"_

_Oh, I thought_

_This is gonna be one of those things_

_Now I know_

_I'm never gonna love again_

Before the word, Demogorgon conjured up images of nightmarish creatures and baseball bats were his weapon of choice. Things were simpler. An understatement, he knows. Simpler doesn’t begin to encompass life before. 

**Life before.** Steve can barely remember it now. 

He supposes before could only be marked by before he started dating Nancy. Before Barb disappeared. Drops of blood her last mark on the world. Before he found himself running back into the Byers’ home, no plan and fear tingling from the tip of his toes to the top of his spine.

In that, before there were basketball games, skipping school, and a place for him on the top of the totem pole of popularity. Girls flocked to him, guys pretended to care what he thought, and he could push that aching feeling of loneliness far, far down and use people to fill the space.

In this, after he’s forced to confront his childish behavior, to show compassion in ways he hasn’t before, and to mend the pieces of his own broken heart. It was nights like this he wished he still lived in the before.

_I've got some tricks up my sleeve_

_Takes one to know one_

_You're a cowboy like me_

_Never wanted love_

_Just a fancy car_

_Now I'm waiting by the phone_

_Like I'm sitting in an airport bar_

On a night when things had seemed comfortably normal and Steve was surrounded by teenagers all blissfully unaware of the horrors that were waiting for them just outside the door. Nancy had decided to get sloppily drunk and damage the facade of teenage love that he had been doggedly trying to preserve. Or maybe he had damaged it weeks before with his cockiness and cruelty. Or sometime in this after with his misplaced guidance. Either way it still hurt getting to this point.

**It’s bullshit.**

The words rattle around in his head. As he drives home he can think of nothing else but the look on her face and stain on her shirt. _Red_. That color continues to haunt him. 

_Red_. All that was left of Barb.

 _Red_. The color of the Christmas lights Steve still sees when he closes his eyes.

 _Red_. The color of the stain on her shirt that led them to the bathroom.

_You had some tricks up your sleeve_

_Takes one to know one_

_You're a cowboy like me_

_Perched in the dark_

_Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear_

_Like it could be love_

_I could be the way forward_

_Only if they pay for it_

_You're a bandit like me_

_Eyes full of stars_

_Hustling for the good life_

_Never thought I'd meet you here_

_It could be love_

_We could be the way forward_

_And I know I'll pay for it_

As his house comes into view Steve realizes he doesn’t want to go inside. There’s nothing for him there except to sit alone in his room for sleep to come and it rarely does these days. 

_You're a cowboy like me_

_Perched in the dark_

_Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear_

_Like it could be love_

_I could be the way forward_

_Only if they pay for it_

_You're a bandit like me_

_Eyes full of stars_

_Hustling for the good life_

_Never thought I'd meet you here_

_It could be love_

_We could be the way forward_

_And I know I'll pay for it_

Instead, at these late hours the fear he pushes to the side rams into him. When his eyes close and there’s only darkness Steve swears he loses all sense of composure. In this, after he is oh so lonely and now there is no one who can help him escape that feeling.

_And the skeletons in both our closets_

_Plotted hard to fuck this up_

_And the old men that I've swindled_

_Really did believe I was the one_

_And the ladies lunching have their stories about_

_When you passed through town_

_But with that, it was all before I locked it down_

_Now you hang from my lips_

_Like the Gardens of Babylon_

_With your boots beneath my bed_

_Forever is the sweetest con_

Steve knows in the before he wasn’t boyfriend material. He was used to doing the bare minimum and having it work out but again, he exists in this after now. In this after, there’s Nancy and she doesn’t let his mistakes slide, doesn’t shrug off his wickedness, and certainly doesn’t let him lie to her or himself. No. Nancy won’t tolerate bullshit and she made that clear tonight. 

**You’re bullshit.**

The words that completely sobered him up.

**Like we’re in love.**

The words that forced him to let go of before. 

_I had some tricks up my sleeve_

_Takes one to know one_

_You're a cowboy like me_

_And I'm never gonna love again_

_I'm never gonna love again_

_I'm never gonna love again_

God how stupid of him to think love could last in this after.

  
  



	2. Happiness (The Marauders)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus thinks about happier times.

_Honey, when I'm above the trees_

_I see this for what it is_

_But now I'm right down in it, all the years I've given_

_Is just shit we're dividin' up_

_Showed you all of my hiding spots_

_I was dancing when the music stopped_

_And in the disbelief, I can't face reinvention_

_I haven't met the new me yet_

Hogwarts was a safe haven that much has been made clear. Once seventh year ended and Remus stepped off the train onto platform 9 ¾ the world had tilted on its axis. The effects of war evident on people’s faces.

As a boy, he remembers being lonely. Of having only his parents and a moon-shaped secret hovering around him at all times. When he was younger it was easier to imagine himself in faraway places. When he closed his eyes to sleep he’d have vivid dreams of using magic, of feeling safe, and of having friends. Those were just dreams though. He’s unsure when he’ll ever feel safe again.

_There'll be happiness after you_

_But there was happiness because of you_

_Both of these things can be true_

_There is happiness_

Once Dumbledore entered his life with a promise that he could attend school and not be a danger to others those dreams slowly became a reality. It didn’t take long for Remus to get caught up in all the things he had wished coming to light. First, using magic constantly and perfecting it until casting spells was as natural as breathing. Second, feeling safe somewhere that wasn’t home. Of course, thanks to certain greasy-haired student, safety wasn’t always guaranteed but he would be lying if on the last night of the term he hadn’t wished he could stay in the comfort of his four-poster bed. Third, friends - actual friends who didn’t care what he was, only cared how he was. This was his greatest dream realized and now here he is wishing he hadn’t dreamt of friends at all.

Friends led to betrayal and death and pain. 

_Past the blood and bruise_

_Past the curses and cries_

_Beyond the terror in the nightfall_

_Haunted by the look in my eyes_

_That would've loved you for a lifetime_

_Leave it all behind_

_And there is happiness_

After being bitten Remus hadn’t always allowed himself to think about getting older. It was common knowledge that werewolves had a shelf life, especially ones who turned as young as the age of four. Once he got older and found himself lying in the hospital wing, his wounds taken care of, and his friends fast asleep in chairs next to him. Remus had given himself time to think about life beyond school. 

He never could have imagined going through what he felt was a full-cycle of life in just a few year's time. If being a werewolf wasn’t going to kill him then what he had recently endured surely was. He closes his eyes and tries to keep the terrible images at bay. Remus can’t go there now. Can’t think of James and Lily’s bodies, of a finger being all that’s left of Peter, of Sirius.

_Tell me, when did your winning smile_

_Begin to look like a smirk?_

_When did all our lessons start to look like weapons_

_Pointed at my deepest hurt?_

_I hope she'll be your beautiful fool_

_Who takes my spot next to you_

_No, I didn't mean that_

_Sorry, I can't see facts through all of my fury_

_You haven't met the new me yet_

Sirius. Who had spent years being fiercely loyal, tearing away any bit of himself that reminded him of his parents or his cousins. Who had stayed by Remus’ bedside moon after moon. Who helped James woo Lily once he noticed James' infatuation had grown from crush to something more. Who teased Peter while simultaneously helping him with assignments. How could he be the one?

_There'll be happiness after me_

_But there was happiness because of me_

_Both of these things, I believe_

_There is happiness_

Remus slowly makes his way to a bench in the middle of Godric’s Hollow. If he stands by their graves one moment longer he is sure he’ll crumble. 

_In our history, across our great divide_

_There is a glorious sunrise_

_Dappled with the flickers of light_

_From the dress I wore at midnight, leave it all behind_

_And there is happiness_

It has been weeks since the war was declared over. Since Voldemort had been defeated and Harry had been deemed the boy who lived although no one knew for sure if he was even alive any longer. People had celebrated and hugged and started to go about life with a spring in their step. Everyone except Remus it seems who cannot for the life of him move forward. To pretend there is light at the end of the tunnel is fruitless in his eyes. There is no silver lining. Instead just him alone, wading through the aftermath of an incredible betrayal.

_I can't make it go away by making you a villain_

_I guess it's the price I paid for seven years in Heaven_

_And I pulled your body into mine_

_Every goddamn night, now I get fake niceties_

_No one teaches you what to do_

_When a good man hurts you_

_And you know you hurt him, too_

After what has now been deemed the prank. Remus had convinced himself there was no way Sirius could ever blindside him like that again. After weeks of silence and cold-shoulders Remus had allowed Sirius to crawl his way back, on the condition that he didn’t make any more decisions where Remus’ secret was concerned. 

He realizes now that since sixth year the trust he had with Sirius had never quite repaired itself. Maybe that’s why he should have seen it coming but then again he did always have a blindspot where Sirius was concerned. Everyone did, apparently.

_Honey, when I'm above the trees_

_I see it for what it is_

_But now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow where you used to lay your head_

_After giving you the best I had_

_Tell me what to give after that_

_All you want from me now is the green light of forgiveness_

_You haven't met the new me yet_

_And I think she'll give you that_

Snow starts to fall and Remus wishes he had worn more than a cardigan. He casts a warming charm and is taken back into his thoughts. The Marauders had taught Remus how to open up, to have a little fun, and to trust. They gave him the confidence to believe he could make a life for himself after Hogwarts even though that seemed impossible in his eyes. Little did he know the life he made for himself would be as a pawn in a much larger game. As an emissary who could drift between the worlds of wizards and werewolves. That wasn’t much of a life at all and Remus wonders if he ever has truly lived. Perhaps only at Hogwarts where each time the real world tried to touch him, he managed to maneuver out of its grasp.

_There'll be happiness after you_

_But there was happiness because of you, too_

_Both of these things can be true_

_There is happiness_

For a moment he closes his eyes and imagines he is back in school. Watching in awe as Sirius easily turns his goblet into a rat in transfiguration. Shaking his head in disbelief as James soars gracefully on the quidditch pitch then loses all that grace as soon as he’s back on solid ground. Smiling a real smile when Peter would sit with him and they would find solace in each other's company when James and Sirius were being particularly James and Sirius like.

_In our history, across our great divide_

_There is a glorious sunrise_

_Dappled with the flickers of light_

_From the dress I wore at midnight, leave it all behind_

_Oh, leave it all behind_

_Leave it all behind_

_And there is happiness_

Hogwarts was a safe haven that much has been made clear. The longer Remus sits and thinks about it he wishes he had never walked out those doors. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This honestly is such a word dump but the idea has been in my head and I had to get it out. Something about this song makes me think of the Mauraders every time I listen.

**Author's Note:**

> This album has been on repeat and will continue to be. Not surprised it has inspired some stories.


End file.
